Outskirts- Old Shack

Somewhere in the Dead Lands, near its border with the Buffer Fields, is an old run down shack. The shack has the outward appearance of not being lived in, with no plants growing around it, and mold growing on its wooden walls, the door of the shack sometimes swinging open on windy nights. There is an ancient rocking chair on the porch of the shack, which creaks back and forth at night.

The dawn had just come, and the sun had risen. Regenard had been walking for three hours, humming the tune to 'The Minstrel Boy' the entire time. He neared what appeared to be a small ruined shack."Who in their-" he grunted, "-right mind would live out here?"His question was soon answered.On the front porch of the shack was an old man. The man greeted Regenard with a smile, and offered him a room for the day. Regenard felt nothing bad about the man, and accepted gratefully. He set his belongings in the attic and sat for a few hours, thinking of Gaia and the Ohanzee. He looked in his bag and picked out the small picture of him and his sister and stared at it for what seemed like days, but in reality was merely an hour.He dined with the man for lunch, then later for dinner, spending his day simply drinking what was left of his whiskey and fixing his mask with things the man gave him.He thanked the man again before sleeping in his room in the attic of the shack. He slept with his knife at his side, just in case something went wrong.

When he awoke, he was met by a blaze of sunlight. For a split second he thought the man had cracked a window to wake him, but then he looked up and realized the building had no roof. His head fell on its side and he stared at where the window was. There were only shards of broken glass protruding from the wall. He headed downstairs in a panic, worried if the house had been struck by something. The lights that were previously on were no longer even attached to the ceiling, one of the ceiling fans had fallen and now stuck out of the floor. There was a thick layer of dust on the ground. He ran over to the table, where a bowl of fruit had sat the previous night. There was a bowl- but it was upturned and half shattered, one of the chairs fallen on the ground. All the windows were broken.

Regenard stepped outside. Sitting in the chair, which looked a lot older than it previously had, was the skeleton of a long-dead man. Regenard stared out to the Dead Lands. He realized that the place had been playing tricks on him, and he cursed loudly into the air.

The voices only grew worse over time. Regenard couldn't take them anymore, so he was forced to leave the Dead Lands. He passed his old camp, and searched around for either Gaia or Ohanzee, and found neither. He took a box of matches from his pack and set the campground alight.

He would return to the shack when his mind had been hardened and he had healed more. He passed a mirror on his way out, and he swore he could have seen... something.

He disregarded all thoughts of the dead, and headed towards the forest, where he would kill Cadets and harden his body and mind.